Trump’s immigration plans are already wrecking the food industry
Trump’s immigration plans are already wrecking the food industry
Immigrant farm workers are too scared to show up to work.
Summary
Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies, including heightened ICE raids, are disrupting the U.S. agricultural sector.
In California’s Central Valley, a key food-producing region, undocumented farm workers—over half the workforce—are staying home out of fear, leaving crops like citrus unharvested.
Bakersfield saw up to 75% of workers absent, sparking concerns of economic devastation and rising food prices.
ICE is also targeting sensitive areas like schools and churches after rolling back Obama-era protections.
Experts warn these policies could lead to widespread economic repercussions.
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In California’s Central Valley, a key food-producing region, undocumented farm workers—over half the workforce—are staying home out of fear, leaving crops like citrus unharvested.
This issue is annoying because everyone is doing everything wrong. The workers shouldn't be here illegally. The government shouldn't be disrupting the food supply and should maybe loosen up legal migrant worker processes. And the farms shouldn't be hiring them either.
There's not really anyone to root for.
Illegal immigration is principally a clerical issue. A problem of documents. If you give them documents, then they're not illegal immigrants anymore. They're already doing the labor. They should be given legal recognition and protection.
On the one hand that's true.
On the other hand it's up the country to decide who gets those documents. Anyone without those shouldn't come in.
If more immigration is desirable, then expand legal immigration.
What if the country in question decides to let them in, but without the proper documents, with the implicit goal of getting their labor for cheap? I think the principle of POSIWID applies here (the purpose of a system is what it does). In other words, the system is/was working as intended, and illegal immigration was desired.
What if the country in question decides to let them in, but without the proper documents, with the implicit goal of getting their labor for cheap? (...) In other words, the system is/was working as intended, and illegal immigration was desired.
This is such an important concept for people to understand. The system was functioning as intended, for better or worse. There are myriad benefits to keeping people in fear, from financial to behavioral. It's part of the reason why the US is so resistant to the idea of decoupling healthcare from employment, at least until after you reach retirement age. Productivity, baby!!
Also, thank you for introducing me to the idea of POSIWID. I'm going to get a lot of mileage out of that.
I think this is more agreeing than contradictory. If more immigration is desirable, then expand legal immigration.
As you say, a system built around exploiting illegal workers is bad for everyone.
I mostly agree. But just because I think they should have an easy path to migrate for work, doesn't mean they are without fault in the situation.
So what is "their fault" in your eyes?
Fleeing from being murdered or starving? Working twice as much and three times as hard for a much smaller pay, than any "legal" American? Putting in the work, so there is food on your table?
I struggle to see what fault they own.
You've been infected by racism towards Mexico without even noticing. The migrant workers aren't all at risk of starvation or being murdered. There's just a better opportunity in the US. It's just a better life, not often so dire as you are making it out to be.
People make moves all the time for opportunity. Nothing special here. It's not the hellscape you are imagining for these millions of people.
A lot of immigrants to the US that aren't allowed to work normally are from other Central and South American countries.
So what is “their fault” in your eyes?
I think it's reasonable for a country to want to have an awareness of those that cross into their borders. Regardless of their intentions, they did break the law.
Fleeing from being murdered or starving?
We're talking about temporary migrant workers, not refugees. The refugee situation is also pretty murky and not a black and white issue though.
Working twice as much and three times as hard for a much smaller pay, than any “legal” American? Putting in the work, so there is food on your table?
As much as that sounds noble, it sounds more to me like they're taking a risk to make money and in turn getting exploited because they're outlaws. Not a great situation. I think deportation is a reasonable response to that (though fuck ICE and their methods).
What if some highly educated Canadian worker illegally migrated to Germany for a job in IT? They're accepting a low wage for the job and are doing the noble work of keeping your critical systems running. Is that Canuck completely without fault?
Look, I think the migrant workers are getting the worst hand in this situation here, but you can't just completely say they're innocents either.
There shouldn't be such a thing as illegal immigration. If people want to come and work, let them. This whole bullshit system and narrative was set up to create a permanent underclass of labor to exploit in the first place.
The problem is, if immigration is uncontrolled, how do you ensure that a place has the necessary and safe infrastructure to support them?
The same way we build infrastructure to support population shifts between states or growth via birth rate. We have a market economy, and in a normally functioning market economy, the market will respond to changes in demand with new supply. Yes, we have issues with our housing supply, but that's because we artificially restrict our housing supply via exclusionary zoning policies and NIMBYism, not because of immigrants. I'd love to have that conversation if you're interested, and I have LOTS of media resources to share.
Yeah, but it can take decades to build necessary infrastructure. People move around much faster than that.
So? By that same argument, people shouldn't be able to move from California to Texas because building infrastructure is hard :( We'll do what functioning societies have always done and figure it out.
I mean, we can surely root for the workers, no?